Sir Topham Hatt I
'''Sir Topham Hatt I '''was the first controller of the North Western Railway in The Sudrian Chronicles. He assumed the position in shortly after the proclamation of the Railway Act of 1924. Bio '''Topham Hatt '''was apprenticed at the Great Western Railway's Swindon Works in 1894 at age fourteen. During his time there, he seems to have struck up a friendship with William A. Stanier, a fellow apprentice. The story current at Crovan's Gate Works is that on at least one occasion, perhaps more, the future Sir Topham was able to help the future Sir William to escape the consequences of what might have been a serious scrape. Due to his training at Swindon, he always admired things Great Western. He came to Sodor in 1901 and joined A. W. Dry & Co., a firm of drainage engineers, at Tidmouth. On their recommendation, he became engineer to the Tidmouth, Knapford and Elsbridge Light Railway in 1910, the Tidmouth, Wellsworth & Suddery in 1912 and the North Western Railway upon its formation in 1924. On the North Western Railway, he rose to be General Manager in 1923, Managing Director in 1936 and upon Nationalisation in 1948, he was created a baronet on his appointment as Chairman of the Regional Executive. For A.W. Dry & Co., he built a series of four vertical boiler engines known as Coffee Pots between 1905 and 1908, which were used by the TK&ER. After an Autumn gale in 1908, he directed unemployed miners in cutting a tunnel through the ridge south of Tidmouth. In 1915, for the NWR, he designed a double tracked Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge of 120ft span to cross the Walney Channel. Sometime after this, he was apointed a director of the Company. When the Railway was suffering from a locomotive crisis in the late 1920's, he was responsible for acquiring new engines. During this time, he made one of his rare bad bargains when he purchased Henry instead of the Robinson Atlantic wanted. He remembered the mistake with sorrow for the rest of his days, and was so angry at having been “done” that he would never admit who it was who had swindled him. No-one was better pleased than Topham Hatt when the Killdane accident occurred in 1935. Using his connections with William Stanier, now CME of the LMS, he was able to have Henry completely rebuilt at Crewe Works. In 1953 when The Queen visited Sodor in Coronation year he had the honour of welcoming her to Tidmouth, having been previously presented to Her Majesty by Viscount Harwick, the Governor, who was also his son-in-law. He retired in 1954 in favour of his son Charles, whom the Board had no hesitation in electing as his successor. It is no exaggeration to say that the present prosperity of the Railway is almost entirely due to his initiative and resource. He married Jane, sister of Sir Handel Brown in 1910 and they had two children, Barbara Jane (born 1911), who married Henry Regaby in 1938, and Charles Topham. He died at Wellsworth in 1956 at the age of 76. Appearances The Sudrian Chronicles Season 1 *The Three Railway Engines Voice Actors